


Three Silent Nights

by phoenixsoul13



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 18:31:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5508338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixsoul13/pseuds/phoenixsoul13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, John, the 10th prince of Gallifrey, fell in love with a mermaid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Silent Nights

**Author's Note:**

> A Secret Santa gift for timeladyelpia on tumblr. :) Merry Christmas!
> 
> Prompt: mermaid AU where 8 or 10 is a human prince who falls in love with a beautiful mermaid princess(Rose) from afar, rescues her from dehydration, sells his voice to an earth witch in exchange for a tail, has only 3 nights to win her hearts, before the moon sets on the third night, or else be turned into a tree forever

Once upon a time, John, the 10th prince of Gallifrey, fell in love with a mermaid.

It certainly wasn’t an expected development, especially given the fact that they had never spoken, but those were the facts in the matter.

He had only been investigating what a recent storm had brought up onto the beach when he had first seen the group of mermaids playing in the water a way’s off from the shore. Speechless at the sight, he had quickly hidden in order to not scare them away. One was not often given the opportunity to study creatures of myth and he wasn’t going to waste the chance.

Eventually the mermaids left, and he went home. And when he came back to the beach the next day there they were again, playing in the water. He couldn’t understand a word they were saying, but it was easy to tell they were having fun from all the laughter. At least, he assumed that was laughter. Did mermaids laugh differently than humans? How did they breathe both above and below water? Where did they live in the ocean? So many questions and no one to ask. At one point, he had tried to come out of his hiding place and casually walk down the beach, but the moment he had been spotted, the mermaids disappeared beneath the waves.

They came back though. Not quite every day, but almost. So long as they didn’t see him, they seemed to feel safe.

He didn’t notice he was being drawn to one particular mermaid until he noticed she wasn’t there one day. Her laughter, so light and full of joy and happiness, was nowhere to be heard and he couldn’t see her multicolored scales or blonde hair anywhere in the group, no matter how long he watched. Had something happened? Was she all right?

He continued to watch until the mermaids disappeared beneath the water’s surface, as the sun started sinking towards the horizon, and he felt his heart sinking with it. Even as he chastised himself for feeling disappointed, he kept looking back at the water looking for a glimpse of her blonde hair or the sound of her laugh as he left the beach.

She was back the next day and he had to fight to stop from laughing as the tenseness left him.

Over the next few days, he continued to come to the beach and watch the mermaids. This time he noticed that certain mermaids weren’t there all the time. He wondered what they were doing, but he didn’t feel the dread of them being gone like he did with the one mermaid.

A storm kept him inside most of one day, and while he watched it rage from the window, he wondered if it would pass soon enough for him to go down to the beach. Were the mermaids playing still in the storm? Or would the waters be too rough for them to stay above it?

It was late in the day when he was finally able to go down to the beach. The mermaids were probably not there, but sometimes interesting things were washed up. That used to be the reason why he would explore it, before he’d gotten caught up with mythological creatures.

He’d knelt down to study a conglomerate rock when he heard it, a sound like someone choking while calling out, although what they might have been saying, he couldn’t tell. Hearing it again, despite the sun and his heavy coat, he felt goosebumps on his arms. He looked around, trying to find the sound, and only had to walk around a log to find a mermaid on the beach. Quite a ways away from the water’s edge. His heart jumped when he realized that this was the mermaid that had captured his attention; he almost hadn’t recognized her. Her scales that were normally pink, blue, and red were now a dull maroon, and her hair, which used to act like sunshine, was a flat yellow. Her skin, if that’s what it was, was terribly flaky, as though a good burst of wind would scatter her across the beach.

She made the sound again, not looking at him, attempting to drag herself towards the water’s edge, but she barely moved forward an inch before she collapsed in the sand. A knot tied itself in his stomach as he watched her try to move her arms under her before her head fell on the sand.

She didn’t move again.

John wondered if there was any chance for her, and making a quick decision, moved towards her and picked her up. With his two legs, he’d have a much easier time getting to the water than she would. When he took her up in his arms, she made the choking sound yet again, though not nearly as loud, and started thrashing. As he started towards the water’s edge, he struggled not to drop her. “I know, I know you don’t like me, or humans at least, but I’m trying-” She nearly fell and he had to pause. “-to help.”

Somehow, he made it into the water without dropping her, and the moment a wave washed up and touched her, the mermaid seemed to have a new surge of energy, as she was able to leap straight from his arms into the water, disappearing beneath the surface. He waited to see if she would reappear, maybe give him the chance to ask one of the many questions he had, but the water remained still aside from its waves. Sighing, he wondered if that had been his only chance, wished that he could follow her. Talk to her, get to know her, cause her to laugh that beautiful laugh he had only heard from afar.

But… maybe he could?

It was said that there was an old earth witch in the forest. Supposedly. Maybe. If he could find the old witch, perhaps he could ask for something that would allow him to go into the ocean and not drown. It seemed to be a ridiculous idea, but the more it spun around in his head, the more he had to try.

Hopefully the price would not be too much to pay.

* * *

_There’s the cackling of a fire and the bubbling of a potion. “So you’ve fallen in love with a mermaid, have you now?”_

_“Ye- no. Maybe. … How do you know that?”_

_“I see a great many things.” A cackle. “And what price are you willing to pay for your wish?”_

_“Anything.”_

_“That’s a dangerous thing to say.”_

_“It’s true though.”_

_“Is it now? Well…” The clinking of glass. “Here’s a potion that will work for you.”_

_“Thank you…”_

_“There is a catch though. You only have three nights to win the hearts of the one you seek. If you fail, you shall transform again to join the rest of the trees in my forest. ”_

_“Three nights? But that’s hardly-”_

_“Do you wish to give it back?”_

_“… And what’s the price?”_

_“Your voice.”_

_“My voice? But how can I-”_

_“There is more to winning hearts than sweet words.”_

_“But-”_

_“Give the potion back then.”_

_“…. You have a deal.”_

* * *

Potion in hand, John hurried back to the beach, where the sun had set and the moon was starting to make its way across the sky. A voice in the back of his head insisted that he wasn’t quite thinking this through, but he dismissed it. He had come this far, had he not?

Having undressed and entered the water, John uncorked the bottle, and before his good sense could return to him, drank the contents. At first it seemed like nothing was happening, and the thought that he’d been tricked entered his mind. But suddenly there was a sharp pain in his legs, sharp enough that he fell over, and when he tried to move his legs to straighten himself, found himself flipping a tail. There was a brief moment of panic when his chest became uncomfortable, but it adjusted quickly, even when he realized he had two hearts, beating in a fast pattern. His torso also itched quite a bit, and he realized he was growing scales up to his neck like he had seen on the mermaids. The other mermaids, given that he was one of them now.

After getting a bit of practice with moving around in his new form, John headed away from the beach, wondering which direction to go to find the mermaids. While the ocean was vast, the fact that the group showed up just about every day should mean that they lived close by. John only hoped that he could find one particular mermaid before the night was through. It didn’t help that he couldn’t tell how much time had passed, although he could see the moon if he squinted hard enough towards the surface.

Sometime after he had passed more than a hundred different species of fish, he heard humming. It didn’t have any rhythm that he could identify, but it sounded cheerful. Following it, he caught sight of blonde hair and multi-colored scales. What luck! He had found her before he had encountered the rest of the group. But how to make his presence known? He couldn’t go up and introduce himself. And he didn’t want to make her nervous. Pretending he hadn’t noticed her, he picked up an interesting piece of shale from the ocean floor, and was turning it over in his hands for the third time when the humming stopped.

“Oh, hello!”

Was her voice as beautiful as her laughter? It was a close call to be sure. He opened his mouth to return the greeting, but quickly realized he couldn’t. He nodded in place of a verbal greeting and smiled, before pointing at his throat and shaking his head, hoping that she got his message.

“What?” Her friendly smile changed to a small frown. “You mean you can’t speak?”

Relief flooded his chest as he nodded. This was going better than expected.

The mermaid held a hand towards herself. “Well, I’m Rose, princess of the Northern Atlantic colony.”

Rose; a lovely name for a lovely mermaid. But wait… did she say princess? How should he respond? Did mermaids have customs for royalty? What was the mermaid culture like in general? John was starting to feel out of his depth.

The mermaid, Rose, continued, “Are you from the Mid Atlantic colony?”

John almost nodded, but then shook his head, before shrugging. He had no idea what his answer should be, or even what it all meant.

Rose’s frown deepened. “Are you sure? You look a bit familiar.”

Did this mean that she recognized him from before? Even if she had been out of it, she must remember something. He resisted the urge to start swimming about with happiness and just nodded.

“So where are you… oh, right. Never mind.” Rose swam up a bit and away. “If you’ll follow me, I can take you to our colony.”

John quickly followed, and as they swam to the edge of the plateau, had to stop at the sight before him. Down in the canyon was like an underwater city. Although the structures were different to reflect the different ways that mermaids moved, it was still plenty recognizable in its layout. The largest building was at the center, and John could only suspect that that was the… palace? Rose had said she was a princess after all.

As they swam down into the canyon, Rose asked, “So, can I try and guess your name? Since you can’t tell me anyway?”

John nodded, while in the back of his head wondering if the mermaids had any sort of writing and if it was possible for him to communicate that way. It wouldn’t be like he’d be using his voice, would it?

“Hmm… Barty?”

John grimaced, shaking his head.

“Aiden?”

He shook his head again.

“Kevin? Alec? David?”

Each of these names were met with a shake of the head.

Rose pulled up short and seemed to think it over for a moment. “How about… John?”

Finally, _finally_ he could nod, smiling.

Smiling as well, Rose said, “Well, it’s nice to meet you John.”

* * *

_“Everyone, this is John.”_

_“Nice to meet you.”_

_“Where are you from?”_

_“He can’t talk, actually, but-”_

_“Oh, well that’s too bad.”_

_“Does he need a place to stay?”_

_“I think Sarah Jane has an extra room.”_

_“Thanks, I’ll ask her.”_

* * *

John woke up the next morning, or rather the next night, in a bit of a panic. It took him a moment to remember that he was perfectly capable of breathing under water now, or whatever his new body was doing.

Yesterday had gone by in a bit of a blur; he’d been introduced to several people in succession, most of whom he couldn’t remember the names of, and then it’d been time for supper.

Which had been interesting. John was no stranger to seafood, given that he’d grown up by the sea, but his taste buds must have been transformed as well, because eating it raw had never been that appealing before.

After the meal, he’d been introduced to Sarah Jane, who was amendable to the idea of letting him use her extra room while he got settled in to the colony. And then… he must have fallen asleep, because he couldn’t remember anything else.

And Rose… Rose. Oh shoot.

John got up, the panic returning. He had only been given three nights, and one of them was gone already. He must have spent more time traveling than he had thought. What should he do? He didn’t want to seem clingy, or pushy, and he wasn’t even entirely sure that Rose wanted to spend time with him as they’d just met, but he had to try. He didn’t want to think about how painful it would be to transform into a tree.

While trying to decide where to start looking for her, the mermaid in question showed up at his window, or rather door. Mermaid buildings were still a bit confusing. “Hey, I was going to see if you wanted a tour of the colony?”

John couldn’t nod yes fast enough.

Despite the underwater city’s size, they managed to get around rather quickly. While walking on legs was the faster and easier way on land, he found that swimming with a tail underwater just about as efficient, if not more so. Even though he had only been a mermaid for about one day, swimming this way was already becoming second nature to him.

He was introduced to some more of her friends, including Mickey, Martha, and Jack, and even met her mother Jackie, the queen and ruler of the Northern Atlantic mermaid colony. A bit scary in his opinion, but she clearly loved her daughter, shouting a warning after them as they left _not to go to the surface_.

John wondered if the group of mermaids that had been visiting the surface had been sneaking away from the colony every day.

After a brief snack, as snacking seemed to replace breakfast and lunch down here, Rose took him outside the underwater city, explaining that they were going to be gathering shrimp.

Basket in hand, John followed Rose up to the plateau where they had met. Even if he would be working, at least he got to spend time with her.

And that was what he needed to do. As time went on, his task felt more and more hopeless. How could he possibly win her hearts in such little time? They barely knew each other and his time was already about halfway up. Still, the thought of giving up was too much to stand. He still had time and he couldn’t give up yet.

He still had time.

A bit unsure what to do, John watched Rose for a minute. At first, she just seemed to be picking up whatever shrimp she came across, but then he noticed she was avoiding the smaller ones. Like fishermen would toss back the smaller fishes. Trying to follow her example, John started picking up shrimp at least as large as the ones she was grabbing and stowing in her basket.

They worked in silence for a while, but it was clear that Rose was used to noise as she started humming, like she had been the night before. John tried to see if he could at least hum, but all he got was silence. He hadn’t realized how much he used his voice until it was gone.

Rose’s humming gradually stopped. “So, do you have any family somewhere?” she asked, putting the lid on her basket to stop the latest shrimp from escaping.

John nodded, a knot in his stomach as he recalled he hadn’t left them a note of any kind. Not even a quick word to the castle saying ‘I’m fine, don’t worry’.

“And you left them to, what, travel?”

It wasn’t all that true, but he couldn’t say, ‘I left them to follow you into the ocean’, so he simply nodded. He had traveled, that was true enough. Just not very far.

Rose smiled, almost sadly. “I’ve always wanted to travel further than our two cities, but after Dad died, Mum was afraid of losing me, so I’ve stayed close by.” She blinked twice in quick succession, then returned to work, as though afraid of seeing his reaction.

Oh. He had wondered why there was no mention of a father when he and Rose had visited Jackie, but he had thought it might have had something to do with mermaids having different family structures. It hadn’t been like he could have asked anyway.

John noticed Rose blinking rapidly as she worked and he wondered if this was how mermaids cried. He hesitated, wondering what he should do. Comfort her? They barely knew one another, but he didn’t want to ignore her pain. Figuring that showing sympathy was better than ignoring her pain, John waited until she paused in her work to give place a comforting hand on her shoulder. Rose looked up at him and smiled, even if it was a bit sad, and squeezed his hand before returning to work.

* * *

_“Here’s the shrimp, Mr. Tennant.”_

_“Thank you, Princess Rose, and uh… John, was it?”_

_“That’s his name.”_

_“Oh, Donna said something about you not being able to talk, right?”_

_“…”_

_“And that’s the answer I deserve for asking that question.”_

_The bright sound of her laugh. “See you later.”_

_“You two have fun now.”_

* * *

And so the second night had passed. John was seriously starting to have doubts that he could win Rose’s hearts before the moon set tomorrow. Was he a fool for trying? Maybe, but he couldn’t regret the small amount of time that he and Rose had spent together.

He had returned to the room he had been loaned, and was just settling down for the day, he would never get used to that switch in his head, when he heard a sound just outside his window -slash- door. As he was sitting back up, Rose poked her head in. “Hey,” she said, indicating that he should follow her before she disappeared from the door. Did she need something?

John got up and swam out of the room, spotting Rose a short ways away and swimming over to her. In the distance, he spotted a few other mermaids swimming away from the city, some of which he knew were Rose’s friends. Rose looked at the distant group before looking at him. “A few of us are going to go up to an empty beach for a while. Want to come?”

The look on John’s face must have made it clear he was remembering Jackie’s warning, as Rose added, “Don’t worry. We’ve been up there plenty of times without a problem. Mum just worries a bit too much.”

Given that Rose had almost been stranded on the beach, John knew that wasn’t strictly true, but he couldn’t say anything about it, so he simply nodded. It would definitely give him more time with Rose, that was for sure, but in a group he would seem less clingy. Probably. Hopefully.

While he had hardly spent any time with mermaids that weren’t Rose, the others seemed to accept him into their group rather easily. Giggling and laughing, the group made their way to the surface, to the beach where John had started his journey towards the mermaids. Breaking through the waves, he almost hissed as the sun hit his eyes. Was it always so bright? Or did he see it differently as a mermaid? He felt a bit different too, under the sunlight, like standing too close to a fire, but not close enough to actually get burned. Still, most of him was in the water, and he could easily duck down when he needed relief.

The beach, as expected, was empty. John had really been the only one to visit it with any regularity, as far as he knew anyway. One of Rose’s friends, Martha if he recalled correctly, produced a ball made of seaweed, and the group threw it back and forth, calling points even though no one had established any rules. Maybe it was assumed the rules were known, or maybe it didn’t matter. He seemed to do well, at any rate.

The game came to an end when the ball hit a boulder in the water with enough force that it fell apart, so the group starting having races and showing off tricks. Mickey and Jack got into a competition of sorts, seeing who could jump out of the water the highest. Rose rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “We really should be heading back soon,” she said, looking towards the sun. John followed her gaze, squinting, and while the sun was starting to come out of high noon, he thought they still had quite a bit of time left.

Apparently the other mermaids agreed with him, because there were numerous shouts of, “Not yet!” and “One more race!”

Rose shook her head amusedly before relenting. “One more race.”

All of the mermaids, excluding Rose and John, lined up to race from close to the beach to where the cove opened out to the ocean. John was sorely tempted to race, but while he was getting quite used to the tail, he definitely wasn’t used to it enough to come in anything but last place, so he waited near the finish line.

“Ready, set, go!”

At Rose’s words, the mermaids set off, but John was distracted from the race by the sounds of something on the beach. Swimming a bit closer, he noticed people on the beach, multiple people, shouting something that he couldn’t understand. He couldn’t understand them? Had transforming into a mermaid given him the ability to understand mermaids while taking away the ability to understand human speech?

Luckily, Rose seemed to have noticed the people on the beach as well, as she suddenly started swimming away from it and shouting, “Dive!”

John obeyed immediately, as did the other mermaids, but just when he thought they’d made it, something sharp appeared in the water. To John’s eye, it appeared to be a spear, and while most of the mermaids dodged it, it did manage to graze Jack’s arm. Purple ooze, which John could only suspect was blood, began to spill from the wound.

Martha hurried over, seaweed in hand, presumably to wrap the injury in, while Rose muttered, “Oh no.”

* * *

_“Mum…”_

_“You could’ve been seriously injured. You could’ve **died**.”_

_“Jack’s going to be fine-”_

_“But it could have been so much worse. Martha, you said so yourself, if he hadn’t dodged it…”_

_“Mum, don’t yell at her. This was my idea.”_

_“I’m not blaming her. I just want to know what you all were thinking, going up to the surface like that?”_

_“…we were just having some fun.”_

_“And you can’t do that down here?” A sigh. “Go get some sleep before the moon rises.”_

* * *

The third night, the last night, was beginning and John wasn’t sure what to do. Sure, he and Rose were closer than they were two nights ago, but was he anywhere near winning her hearts? Were they even friends? He tried to imagine being a tree, and while being without a voice was a bit of a nuisance, being unable to move would most definitely be worse.

Ignoring the knots in his stomach, John got up, trying to figure out what to do. What could he do? He couldn’t talk to her, make her laugh. Maybe a gift? What would she like? There was nothing that could guarantee winning her hearts, but it was his only plan of action at the moment.

Eventually he recalled some underwater plants she had been admiring yesterday when they had been gathering the shrimp. Maybe he could make something out of that, like the flower crowns that he had seen girls on the surface making and wearing. At this point, it was all that he had, so he set out to do so.

And almost ran into Rose on his way out the door.

“Oh!” Rose pulled back hurriedly as John stopped short in the doorway. “Sorry! Where- wait, never mind.”

John smiled regardless and suspecting her cut off question, pointed towards the plateau off in the distance.

“Really? I’d ask why, but I think we know how that’ll go.”

John nodded, then remembered Jack and the incident the day before. In trying to ask his question, John gave Rose an inquisitive look and indicated a spot on his own arm where Jack had been hurt.

“Huh, oh,” Rose said, comprehending. “Jack’s just fine. Already back to his old self, showing off his injury.” She chuckled, but quietly, and a bit sad. John was fairly certain that Rose felt guilty about what happened, but he couldn’t think of anything to do to comfort her. He could think of plenty to _say_ , but then that was the problem wasn’t it?

Unsure what to do, John could have sighed with relief when Rose spoke again. “So do you mind if I go with you? Don’t want to hang around here much in case I run into Mum.”

On the one hand, this would make creating a gift for her more difficult, given that she would be right there, but on the other hand…

How could he say no to more time with Rose?

Nodding, John started swimming off towards the edge of the city, hearing a “Hey!” behind him, and then looking back to see Rose swimming after him. “Race you!” she said as she swam right past him. While he didn’t think he could win, not against someone who’s been a mermaid their whole life, John still swam as fast as he could, arriving at the plateau less than a minute after Rose did.

“Slow poke! Slow poke!” Rose said with a grin, swimming circles around him. John wanted to yell back some witty remark; he wasn’t sure what, but it would’ve been witty. Unfortunately, all he could do was stick his tongue out, which got a laugh out of Rose. He grinned in response.

Rose stopped swimming in circles and swam next to him. “So, what are we doing?”

All John could do was shrug. Not just because he couldn’t say anything, but he did want the gift to be a surprise. Even if he was going to give it to her right away.

“Nothing in particular? All right.” Rose started humming and swimming around again, looking at some of the colorful plants that were swaying in the water. John took the opportunity to go a short distance away towards one of the more colorful plants and picking here and there to gather materials for his project, but leave enough plants around for the sea life. Once he had enough, he started working on the sea flower crown, as he thought of it.

He got so caught up in the crown that he didn’t hear anything until, “Are you making something?” John looked up at Rose’s face, wondering how he could still be alive with his heart - _hearts_ \- beating so fast. With no other response, he nodded.

“Reminds me of when we used to come up here and make necklaces out of these.” Rose grabbed a couple of leaves from a nearby plant and started weaving them together, her humming starting again. John wondered what song it was, it didn’t sound at all like anything he had heard before. Maybe it wasn’t anything in particular though. Some people just made up songs to hum in their head.

They worked in silence, except for Rose’s humming, until he finally finished the crown. That had been easier than he had expected; it had looked much more difficult, although the sea flowers were rather cooperative. Turning it around in his hands to make sure it didn’t fall apart, John presented it to Rose. “For me? How do I…” She hesitated, which gave him the chance to place it on her head. “Oh! It’s a crown.” Reaching up a hand to straighten it, she said, “I love it.”

Even if he’d had a voice, John wouldn’t have responded, as at that moment a dark shadow passed over their heads. Mermaids could see fairly well in the dark, but up on the plateau things were lit up by moon light filtering down through the water. Something had to be blocking it, but glancing up showed only a dark shape. If he had to guess, it was probably a boat of some sort. But at this time of night?

“We should probably get going,” Rose said, joy gone from her voice. John couldn’t help but agree and moved to swim towards the edge of the plateau when something dropped into the water. A large something. As it fanned out, John quickly recognized it as a net. “Go!” Rose shouted, and John was about to obey when another dark shadow appeared, and dropped another net right over them. Swimming as fast as he could, John stopped when Rose didn’t overtake him as she should have. Looking back, his hearts stopped.

Rose was trapped in the net.

John looked around for a sharp rock, and upon finding one that would have to be sharp enough, hurried over to the net, ignoring Rose’s shout of, “No, John, don’t get caught too!” Trying to slice the rope where Rose had been trying to find a space to squeeze through, John found the rock duller than he had expected, and only managed a few frayed threads before the net started to move upwards. “John, go!”

But he wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

The net started to break the surface of the water just as he got halfway through cutting the rope. He tried pulling it apart with Rose’s help, but it was fairly sturdy. He found himself hanging off of the net, trying to cut it with one hand, as it was pulled up towards the boat. When the rope finally, _finally_ broke, giving Rose enough room to leave, he heard a shout from above, indicating that they’d been spotted by one of the sailors. He didn’t drop though, not until after Rose disappeared beneath the water’s surface.

When he did re-enter the water, John looked around quickly, trying to spot Rose, and couldn’t breathe easily until he did. She swam up to him, the sea flower crown having vanished in the madness, and grabbed his hand. “We really should get going.” He nodded, and was just about to swim off when he felt a sharp pain hit his upper back. Rose was shouting, but it was hard to think, let alone understand, with the pain overwhelming his brain. As the darkness crept into his vision, the last thing he saw was Rose, calling his name.

* * *

_“What happened?”_

_“Are you all right?”_

_“How did-”_

_“Where’s Martha?”_

_“I’ll go get her.”_

_“Sweetheart, what happened?”_

_“There were these boats and nets, and… and John could’ve gotten away but he stayed to help me.”_

_“Oh no…”_

_“What’s going on?”_

_“Martha, can you help him?”_

_“…I’ll do my best.”_

_“Please…”_

_“Why don’t we give her some room to work, Rose?”_

_“No. I’m going to stay.”_

* * *

“John? John? Can you wake up? I’d really appreciate it if you opened your eyes now.”

Rose. Rose was calling to him. John wanted to respond, but he was lost in a fog, floating as though suspended in air.

“Anything?” said a second voice.

“No.”

“You should get some rest. It’s late.”

He was too late, wasn’t he? He was out of time. He was going to turn into a tree. He only hoped that he was able to move out of the mermaids’ city before that happened. He wouldn’t want to take up space.

“No, I’ll stay.”

“The moon’s going to set soon.”

“I know.”

Too late.

“Make sure to get some rest, Rose.”

“Thank you, Martha.”

Silence. And as the silence crept on, John felt himself grow a bit more aware of his surroundings, though he couldn’t open his eyes. He wasn’t quite floating, definitely not in air, rather he was resting on a bed somewhere. Perhaps the extra room he had been loaned from Sarah Jane.

He heard Rose sigh and John tried to reach out for her hand, but it felt like something was weighing his arm down. Both arms. And his tail. And his head. All he wanted was to see Rose’s face again before he became a tree.

“John?” At least he could hear her. “If you don’t open your eyes soon… I don’t know what I’ll do.”

She cared for him. He couldn’t even remember what he wanted when he had made the bargain with the old witch, but her caring for him? That was enough.

“You know, I feel ridiculous even thinking this, let alone saying it.” He heard a weak laugh. “I mean, we’ve barely known each other three nights, it’s so strange, but I think I love you?”

He could hardly believe what he was hearing. John wasn’t even sure what love was, though it probably had something to do with risking your own life to save someone else. At that moment, he felt something he hadn’t even realized was there release its chokehold on him and he exhaled in relief.

“John?” That was the first hope he’d heard in her voice since he’d woken up. Someone, presumably Rose, grabbed his hand. “Squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”

He squeezed her hand, before absentmindedly saying, “I can hear you.”

“…did you just say something?”

Ah. Yes. This would be fun to explain. But before he was even close to getting his thoughts in order about mermaids and witches and potions, he felt sleep calling to him. The only thing he managed to say before he fell asleep was, “It’s a long story.”

* * *

_“…”_

_“…”_

_“…”_

_“…you sold your **voice** to become a mermaid?”_

_“I told you, it was quite ridiculous and foolhardy.”_

_“I can’t believe you did that.”_

_“I’m glad I did it though.”_

_“…I’m glad you did it too.”_


End file.
